Heterochrony and sexual dimorphism in the pigtailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina)

Somatic growth is not a simple linear process with a constant rate of growth. The most successful attempts to quantify growth as a function of age or size have employed nonlinear techniques. Sexual dimorphism of primate growth, weight vs. age, was examined using nonlinear models with Sirianni and Swindler's ([1985] Growth and Development of the Pigtailed Macaque, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press) growth data on the pigtailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina). The best fit of several exponential growth models was the Gompertz curve: Weight = a*e-b*e-K*age Different multiple phase models were also fit, where each phase represents a distinct exponential component. The two-phase models proved to be the best (R2 = .0.84 for females, 0.91 for males), suggesting that there are two growth spurts, one in infancy and one at puberty. The timing of the beginning and end of the first spurt is the same in males and females, but the rate, and value of the asymptote for this phase, is greater in males. The timing of the second spurt is earlier, and the rate of growth for this spurt is smaller in females than males. The sexual dimorphism in these species is not a simple rate change, but a complex interaction of timing and rate over the entire period of growth. It would be impossible to separate these entities with a linear, polynomial, or single-phase model of the data. While these data and results complement much of the existing work on adult dimorphism, they also emphasize the vital role that ontogenetic data have in elucidating the underlying evolutionary mechanisms that generate sexual dimorphism.